Obama vs. McCain: How the Underinsured Would Fare Under the Candidates' Health Plans

This is the fourth in a series examining how the candidates' health care proposals will affect ordinary people who live in the river town of Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, and how the press could cover that angle. Part I is archived here, and parts II and III are archived here and here.

Kevin A. Smith

You might say that Kevin Smith, age 46, has struck it rich in the health insurance lottery. He, his wife, and four kids have a family policy provided by his wife's employer -- Arkansas State University. She is a teacher and runs an early childhood education program in the area. The university's insurance comes with a low deductible, just $500, and his share of the premium runs only about $2900 a year, an insurance bargain these days. It's an eighty/twenty plan, which means the insurer pays 80 percent of a bill, and the insuree pays the rest. That's a bargain, too, considering that seventy/thirty plans are common. Copays for most services cost twenty dollars. "It's good insurance," Smith says. "But having said that, I have a stack of medical bills. I feel Michael Moore is right. The way the system works, it can break you." The 20 percent copayments applied to increasingly expensive medical services add up quickly.

Smith's family is typical of some 25 million Americans who may be underinsured; that is, their insurance, good or bad, does not cover all their medical care. According to The Commonwealth Fund, a New York City philanthropic and research organization, people are underinsured if they spend 10 percent or more of their income on out-of-pocket expenses. So far this year, the Smiths have racked up medical bills that totaled $7000, about 8 percent of the family income. Smith, who once worked for former Arkansas Sen. Dale Bumpers and Bill Clinton when he was governor, and served ten years in the Arkansas state senate until term limits forced him out, makes a good income between selling insurance and running a side business helping communities write grants. Still, the pile of medical bills is daunting, considering ongoing family expenses and looming college costs for his two sons.

The health services his family has used are nothing extraordinary, but they reflect the normal everyday care a family with four kids might need. It's the stuff, he says, that you can't plan for. His son suffered a concussion playing football. His wife broke a rib after a bicycle fall. Smith himself has had a couple of bike accidents. Last February, he finally paid off $3000 in bills, and was so excited he announced it to the staff in his office. The next day he fell off his bike on a rain-slick street and badly broke his arm and collar bone, and the cycle of medical debt began again.

Doctors sent him by ambulance to a specialist in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He got stuck with a $1000 bill not covered by insurance, and a doctor later told him the ambulance ride was unnecessary. Then, in May, he had another bicycle accident. Even though he suffered lacerations and a bruised a knee, he didn't go to the doctor. His shoulder is frozen, and it's hard for him to buckle a seat belt or shave.

He has been to his regular doctor, a chiropractor, and a physical therapist, all of whom have recommended an MRI costing about $1000. But he's stalling, trying to avoid adding that $200 copayment to what he already owes. This year, his doctor diagnosed environmentally-induced asthma which is going to require some expensive medications with twenty- and thirty-dollar copays. So far he's using free samples from the doctor to see which ones work best before buying costly drugs.

During his time in the Arkansas legislature, Smith learned a thing or two about health care. As an insurance agent, he sees "people all the time who are uninsurable, can't afford a policy, and fall through the cracks." Unexpectedly, he blurts out: "I wish we had single-payer. We would trade commissions (on health policies) for free health insurance in a New York minute." If his clients didn't have to worry about health care expenses and health policies, Smith says, they could afford to pay their other insurance premiums on time, or maybe buy a long-term care policy that some people need but cannot afford to buy. His business would do just fine.